Increasing Earth’s Thermosphere Temperature : Cause and Impact

Increasing Earth’s Thermosphere Temperature

There are five major layers in our earth’s atmosphere, that is Troposphere, Stratosphere or Ionosphere, Mesosphere, Thermosphere, and last one is Exosphere from lowest to highest heights. There were recorded a highest temperature in our planet’s thermosphere compared to the past two decades, NASA reported. In this session we are going to discuss, the reason and impact of increasing Thermosphere temperature.

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Earth’s Thermosphere

As we know that Earth’s thermosphere is the second highest layer of the atmosphere, which spreads out across 513 km. This layer is located between the Mesosphere, which starts at around 85 km above earth’s surface, and the Exosphere, which begins at around 600 km above the ground. There is outer space lies above the exosphere.

How NASA Measures Thermosphere’s Temperature

There is a presence of Carbon dioxide and Nitric oxide molecules in the Thermosphere, which releases infrared radiation. Space agency NASA measures the temperature of thermosphere from these infrared radiations. Scientists convert these data from NASA’s TIMED Satellite ( Thermosphere, Ionosphere, Mesosphere , Energetics, and Dynamics ) , into TCI ( Thermosphere Climate Index ). TCI is measured in Terawatts.

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TCI Value In March

According to LiveScience, the TCI value is 0.24 terawatts on March 10. This peak value is equal to last time’s peak value of December 2003. Due to the three geomagnetic storms that reached on earth in January and February, The TCI Value reached on its peak. These storms are disturbance in Earth’s magnetic field brought by the fast moving magnetized plasma fields from the Sun , which is called Coronal Mass Ejections ( CMEs).

After March 10 , two more storms hit the Earth.

1. First one was happened on march 24 , which was the most powerful solar storm to strike the planet in over six years.
2. Second one was happened on april 24 .

The TCI value remains at high after these two storms but have not passed the March peak.

Reason of Increasing Thermosphere Temperature

There is a spike in temperature compared to the past two decades – according to NASA. The reason behind this spike is the series of geomagnetic storms that struck earth this year and it is likely to edge higher in the upcoming years as the Sun’s activity increases.

The geomagnetic storms deposit their energy in the thermosphere by which it heats up. The increased heat of thermosphere results in increased emission of infrared radiation from carbon dioxide and nitric oxide present in the layer. According to Scientists - infrared emission cools the thermosphere which originates after the geomagnetic storms. But if the storms occur back to back , then the temperature of the layer remains high.

Impact of Temperature Spike in the Thermosphere

Due to the increasing temperature of the Thermosphere , there is a risk to the satellites located in Low – Earth orbit. The thermosphere expands as it warms , which results in increasing aerodynamic drag on all satellite and on space debris. The increased drag can pull satellites towards Earth ultimately causing them to crash into each other or get displaced out of their orbit.

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